Such intercoolers are used for turbocharged internal combustion engines, particularly for diesel engines for cooling the air compressed and heated by an exhaust air turbocharger to increase the volumetric efficiency and thus the power delivery of the internal combustion engine.
In this connection, the published German application DE 10 2207 005 393 discloses a system for regulating the charge air temperature for an air-cooled intercooler in an internal combustion engine. The intercooler has an inlet area and an outlet area, wherein a temperature sensor is allocated to each of the two areas to detect the associated charge air temperature. A fan with a regulated rotational speed for producing a coolant air stream acting on the intercooler is additionally present. A regulation device adapts the rotational speed of the fan according to the charge air temperatures detected by the temperature sensors in such a manner that the charge air is cooled corresponding to a charge air temperature at the outlet area. Since this presupposes the use of a complex closed-loop regulation, the known system is comparatively expensive in construction.